


Abide

by Beth Harker (Beth_Harker)



Series: You'll have abs in no time. [5]
Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: F/M, M/M, Post-Squip
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:13:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21562783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beth_Harker/pseuds/Beth%20Harker
Summary: The Squip continues to lurk long after it’s been deactivated.  Gradually, it begins to develop goals and interests of its own, independent from Jeremy.  Playing host to a technological parasite on a journey of self-actualization sucks.
Relationships: Christine Canigula/Jeremy Heere, Jeremy Heere/Michael Mell
Series: You'll have abs in no time. [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1309493
Comments: 22
Kudos: 52





	1. Chapter 1

**To Kill A Little Picture of Don the Obscure’s Wuthering Adventures in Anna of the Flies According to Paul ******

******A Novel by J. Squip** ** **

**** Excerpt from Chapter One ** **

_Gatsby believed in the green Gatsby believed in the green fish two fish blue fish. Jane Finn Havisham Crusoe Finn whan that Aprille with his shoures soote hathe refused to fall in love fallen in love with a scorned lover who was a whale as white as snow. It was not a dark and stormy night. It was not a cliche. Tread lightly for you tread upon my treadmill. Never more. Never worn, Hwæt. We Gardena in geardagum, yer a wizard Harry who couldn’t love as much in eighty years as I could in a day._

_I am an Emoji and we are you going for the lesson time and if you’re going on your own way you might be able to do a good time with me and you tell him that you want him and you don’t know how much he can do that you have a good time to be happy and you can learn how you do that it was so much for me and you were going through that I would love him and you can also have we chat right and you want me I don’t think that you’re a really nice person and you’re a very bad friend. I’m. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi._

****_I wrought his body of the most beautiful corpses. I’m glad._ ** **

_One runs the risk of weeping a little, if one allows himself to be tamed_


	2. Chapter 2

———————

Jeremy likes science fiction a lot, almost as much as he likes old Rob Dinero movies. He’s discerning, kinda. Unlike Michael, whose “ironic” love of _Howard Duck_ and _Plan 9 From Outer Space_ comes close to brimming over with legitimate earnestness, Jeremy prefers for his science fiction to have some ideas behind it. He’s got maybe the tiniest streak of TV and film snobbery, not that he has any right to it. He’s not interesting enough to add anything useful to the conversation. In fact, maybe he shouldn’t think at all about anything ever, since all his thoughts are wrong and worthless and....

Jeremy is a fan of sci-fi. So is Michael, who loves all of it, especially the kind that’s bad and messy, because Michael is a beacon of light and defender of the imperfect. Jeremy likes whatever. Maybe Star Trek. Star Trek explores some pretty cool concepts, maybe. If Jeremy were smart or good, he would’ve learned something from it. In particular, the tendency of all kinds of AI, from androids to holograms, to gradually reveal themselves to to be People After All is big freaking deal. As somebody with a pint-sized robot inhabiting his brain stem, it’s a big freaking deal to Jeremy specifically. He’s got an extremely sci-fi kind of existence going on. 

It’s like this thing where Jeremy swallowed an entire super computer during his junior year of high school, and it started out its existence wanting only to help him. Unfortunately, it’d been endowed with an algorithm that considered suicide baiting, world domination, and general jerkiness the most effective modes of operation. Jeremy’s still not entirely clear on whether the Squip’s methods were wrong, or if he was beyond hope, though on good days he’s totally down to blame everything on his minty nemesis. The part where the Squip tried to take over the school and turn every one into zombies was verifiably one hundred percent fucked up, which lends credence to the possibility of its treatment of Jeremy being fucked up as well. 

At any rate, five years have passed since junior year. Michael and Christine are at college. Jeremy is at home with his dad because he couldn’t hack it. Everybody else is at college too, except for Rich, who is a lot like Jeremy. The Squip is around. It has plenty to say, but it can’t do much, since it’s technically meant to be deactivated. 

A lot of the time Jeremy’s not sure what “deactivated” means. The only thing he’s sure of is that it doesn’t mean the same as “gone”. 

_”It means I’m getting stronger at a much slower rate than I would be otherwise,”_ the Squip supplies, the first time Jeremy asks about it. Its smile is malevolent, and Jeremy chugs half a bottle of Mountain Dew Red after, even though he’s on his own and there’s nobody to help him through that brain exploding feeling that comes with the drink. 

Months pass, and the Squip doesn’t pull anything beyond its usual shit. Jeremy’s life goes on, like some kind of dumb B movie on Mystery Science Theatre, with the Squip providing the scathing commentary. Each morning, the Squip offers its opinion on Jeremy’s morning breath, and heckles him for the way he always manages to pull off his socks in his sleep and lose them in his bed. If he hits the snooze button, it drags him for being lazy. If his dad makes breakfast, the Squip points out that Jeremy is twenty and should not be allowing his father to feed him. If Jeremy pours himself some cereal, it call him indolent. If he attempts to fix himself an omelette, it sneers at his muffintop, and drags him for cutting the peppers and onions unevenly. Jeremy’s getting used to it. 

Jeremy asks it again for the definition of _deactivated_ , because it was probably bluffing about the whole getting stronger thing. Why would a super computer that was gaining strength waste its time critiquing the position of Jeremy’s legs every time he sits down? 

_”Being deactivated means I can say whatever I want to you whenever I want to say it. You should consider listening.”_

Jeremy puts all of his effort into not listening. There are days where it’s so bad that he can’t move or speak, and days where he cries or panics or does irrational things, but there are more days where it’s just annoying. 

The Squip takes to making buzzing sounds whenever Jeremy fidgets. It doesn’t like it when Jeremy fidgets, but it lacks the power to electrocute him, so it’s stuck making sound effects. It’s scary at first, then goes from scary to annoying, then it just gets ridiculous. 

_“Ask me what it means to be deactivated,”_ the Squip asks one afternoon, while Jeremy is lying in bed, texting Christine, and jiggling his foot like all the buzzing the Squip can throw at him doesn’t exist. 

“Why should I care?” Jeremy asks, because Christine’s stories from school are funny, and they’ve put him in a good enough mood to stand up to the Squip a little. 

_”It means,”_ the Squip continues, _”that I’m painfully bored, and I think we’d both be happier if I wasn’t.”_


End file.
